Jane Smiley is one of my very favourite writers and she churns up some riveting stuff in the above link - well worth reading.
Like the late, great Molly Ivens, she is fearless in her analysis of how things went so terribly wrong in her country.
The Iraq quagmire is sucking the life out of our neighbour down south, the dollar shrinking, housing markets decimated, personal bankruptcies through the roof, no health care for its citizens, New Orleans a no-go for the people who used to live there, one out of every 150 of its citizens in jail and more jails being built every day, its military outsourced to private and for profit mercenaries (was there ever a name with such a death knell ring to it as 'Blackwater'?), and the Patriot Act in all its permutations stripping the Constitution of any of the 'freedoms' so proudly bandied about by the flag wavers. And the media operating at just about the level of a trained poodle (Blair, anyone?)
And Iran may be the next target for the bringing of 'democracy'?
Bumper Sticker seen on U.S. vehicle here in Newfoundland:
Be nice to me or I will bring democracy to your country too!
Thank heavens for Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann and Stephen Colbert who through satire and wit (and lately a healthy disgust) bring the actual truth to their audiences.
From here, the messages about the US government seem to be (1) they want to gain control of as many other countries as possible. (2) they don't give a toss about any US citizen who is poor, unhealthy, homeless or jobless. (3) Bush believes God is telling him to do these things. (4) There is no effective opposition able to wrench Bush's hands off the steering wheel. All in all a depressing picture.
ReplyDeleteI don't get to see Stewart and Colbert as much as I like, but both shows do their best to interject a much needed criticism of shrub's administration.
ReplyDeleteI agree Nick, the whole political system of the U.S. needs a complete overhaul. A Question Period would be helpful for one. The fact that all politicians can be bought and sold by Big Corp means that the majority of citizens are ill-served so compaign contributions and the powerful lobbyists need to be eliminated, etc. I could go on.
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I don't have a TV Medbh, but I do catch a lot on the internet, not as much as I used to being in dial-up country for a few months, but enough transcriptions to keep me both laughing and crying at the same time!
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